Current Environmental Issues

“Nearly one half of all Americans—an estimated 150 million—live in areas that don’t meet federal air quality standards” (Vehicles, Air Pollution). Out of all pollution, 33% comes directly from the transportation sector and the emissions produced by gasoline burning engines (Heckeroth). The primary sources of this pollution comes from passenger vehicles and heavy duty trucks that belch out ozone, unburned hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and other smog forming gases. The health concerns from these toxic chemicals are extremely serious. Polluted air can cause asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory issues, while increasing the risk of potentially fatal conditions such as cancer. In fact, particulate matter alone is the cause of nearly

Climate change is an adjustment of global weather and atmospheric conditions and its effects on all other areas of life. Scientists have known that the conditions on earth have a tendency to change over the past 650,000 years, however, not only are we experiencing a rate of change greater than ever before, it is also 95% likely that human activities are the origin of the problem. Scientists can gather evidence about past climates and the planet’s responses from ice cores, tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. From this information, it is calculated that current warming conditions are occurring approximately 10 times faster than ever. This fluctuation in temperatures has caused surface temperatures to rise, ice sheets to shrink, ocean levels to rise, and ocean acidification. In the past few years, there have been more extreme record events than seen before, such as larger and more powerful storms, longer and hotter droughts, et cetera (Climate Change). Everything in our world is so finely tuned that just a few degrees means the difference between 30,000 feet of ice, and extreme droughts and heat waves (The

A majority of oil producing countries are located in the middle east, where things never seem to be calm. In fact, if it were not for our unquenchable thirst for oil and the billions of dollars we throw their way, we probably would not be allies, and in several cases we are not. Terrorist groups, such as ISIS, make nearly $1-2 million per day from smuggling oil (Cobb). By basing our economy and transportation system on foreign trade, we place too much power in their hands. To be truly independent we cannot depend on these foreign nations and organizations to provide for